Seeds of Doubt Lead to CBP Drug Seizure at Port

Release Date:

December 22, 2016

TUCSON, Ariz. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility in Nogales, Arizona, seized $1.2 million in marijuana – more than 2,400 pounds – from a Mexican national Wednesday when he attempted to enter the United States.

Officers discovered bundles of marijuanawithin bins of watermelons

Officers working with a CBP narcotics-detection canine discovered the drugs co-mingled within bins of watermelons in a tractor-trailer driven by a 46-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

Nearly 250 bundles of marijuana were removedfrom a shipment of watermelons

Officers seized the entire shipment and referred the subject to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Wednesday’s seizure is the second significant load of marijuana intercepted this week at the Mariposa facility. On Tuesday, officers seized 6,500 pounds of marijuana found in a shipment of strawberry jam and, earlier in December, seized 10,000 pounds of marijuana.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.